TaxiDrive in Review – Hail that Cab!

For those of you who have never experienced riding in a New York City taxi cab, let me tell you. Its like riding on a roller coaster! It’s a wild and wacky adventure where you’re sitting in the back of the cab holding on for dear life as your driver maneuvers in and out of traffic coming ever so close to clipping everything and anything in sight. Get the heck out of the way there Mr. Hot Dog vendor! In TaxiDriver New York, you are the driver and your goal is to pick up your passengers and deliver them to their destination of choice while doing it safely so you can collect your fares.

When the game starts up you have the option to immediately begin a new game or you can go to “Taxi Driving School” in which you’ll get screenshots to learn the “how-to’s” of the game. The game play itself is rather shallow. You have 3 levels, the first being Central Park. The goal in this game is to pick up your passengers who will be located somewhere on the map delivering him or her to their destination (a green circle) somewhere along the map. Sounds easy enough right? Not so fast my friend! This is New York City remember? Speeding cars, jaywalkers and homeless people pulling rickshaws are everywhere! Well maybe the last part I ripped off of a Seinfeld episode – but jaywalkers aside there are plenty of cars cruising around the city in which you’ll have to avoid on route in order to make your runs and in turn, your fares. If you happen to crash into just one of the cars, its game over!

So Mr. Tourist wants to get from one end of Central Park to the other, how are we going to get them there? Well, there are actually two ways to control your cab. Upon picking up your fare, you can touch your destination and the taxi will automatically draw out a route that will be shown on screen by a series of white dots which will lead to their drop off point. By doing this though, you must keep in mind that there is traffic everywhere you go so there is a chance that with this predetermined route you might crash into an oncoming car. The one good thing though is if you do select this option you do have the ability to redirect your cab by drawing a new path for your cabbie to avoid any drivers in your path. The other option is to drag your finger over the streets via a route you prefer. By doing so, you can move at your own pace and strategically guide yourself to your place of arrival.

As far as the depth of the game, there definitely needs to be some updates. There are only 3 levels which start with Central Park. When you reach $300, you unlock the 2nd which is Midtown, and after accomplishing that feat, you can unlock last but not least “The East Side” at $500. That right there is the extent of the game which is why I previously mentioned the word “shallow”. That shouldn’t defer you though. This game does provide a challenge. As you progress further into each level, there are more streets which mean more traffic which presents some difficulty. You also have the ability to earn extra lives by making more money within each level.

Overall, it’s a fun pick-up-and-play type of game and at $0.99 you really can’t go wrong. TaxiDrive definitely has potential if there were more maps added in future updates. This game is recommended for fans Flight Control and a definite must have if your dream is to become a Cabbie in the Big Apple!!